Casino table games generate millions for Pennsylvania

As it was about to mark the first anniversary of blackjack, poker, craps, and other table games, Pennsylvania closed out its fiscal year June 30 with $81.5 million generated by 10 state casinos, according to figures released Monday by the board that regulates the industry.

The launch of table games began July 8, 2010, starting in the western part of the state and moving eastward. Parx in Bensalem, Harrah's in Chester, and Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem rolled them out July 18, 2010. On Sept. 23, SugarHouse in Philadelphia opened with both slot machines and table games.

Under the state's Gaming Act, 14 percent of gross revenue from table games is returned to the general fund as tax revenue. That amount came to $71.3 million last fiscal year. In addition, 2 percent of gross table-games revenue, $10.2 million, was returned to municipalities and counties that host casinos.

For the month of June, table games produced $49.7 million in gross revenue at the 10 casinos now open, with about $8 million going back to the state and towns as tax revenue.

In what has been the pattern since Pennsylvania opened its borders to casino gambling in late 2006, the gains came at a huge cost to Atlantic City, which continues to bleed revenue even in summer, traditionally its most profitable season. Total gaming revenue at the Shore declined 3.7 percent last month, to $276.2 million. Table-games revenue dipped 5.2 percent, topping the 3.1 percent decline in slots revenue.

New Jersey taxes revenue from both slots and table games at 9.25 percent, money that goes toward senior-citizen and disability programs and projects approved by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

Analyst Andrew Zarnett of Deutsche Bank said, "Following the footsteps of the impact of slot machines, table games also negatively impacted Atlantic City - taking table-game players and putting them back in Pennsylvania."

Analyst Dennis Farrell Jr. of Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C. wrote in a note to investors last week, the day New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement released the Shore revenue figures: "We believe that Atlantic City continues to experience pressure from expanded offerings at Delaware's and Pennsylvania's casinos. We remain concerned that elevated regional supply is too large to ignore. . . ."